Children's home run by Care and Management Services Ltd in Birmingham

Inspection report children’s home: SC419217 1 SC419217 Registered provider: Care and Management Services Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately operated children’s home provides care for up to two children whose adverse early childhood experiences and trauma can lead to them exhibiting complex behaviours.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since December 2018. She is enrolled on the level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 4 February 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC419217 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/02/2019 Full Good 27/09/2017 Full Good 14/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 02/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC419217 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) 31/03/2020

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b)(5)(a)(b)) 31/03/2020 Inspection report children’s home: SC419217 4

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Recommendations

 The importance of understanding who we are and where we come from is recognised in good social work practice, for example through undertaking life story work or other direct work. Staff in children’s homes should play a full role in work of this kind. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.14)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to

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Recommendations

them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children live in this home. Both children are making good progress in all areas of their lives. This is a result of the consistent care that they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s education is prioritised. Staff work closely with teachers to help them to better understand how best to support children’s learning. Staff make learning fun and as a result, children who have experienced significant disruption to their education are now attending school daily.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are clearly understood. Because of the well-planned, stable care that children receive, both of the children no longer require medication to help them regulate their behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to help children to stay in touch with their families. This includes arranging for children to spend significant events together. For example, staff arranged for one child’s brother to spend Christmas Day at the home. This positive approach allows children to build lasting childhood memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff carry out thoughtful work with the children. For example, the staff have made a change to one child’s bedroom. This change has helped the child to sleep better at night. However, staff do not always keep records of this thoughtful work. This represents a missed opportunity to reflect on what works well and to understand the impact this work has on improving children’s outcomes. Inspection report children’s home: SC419217 5

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Since the last inspection, the manager has carried out a review of the behaviour support plans to make them more individualised to the child. This change has been highly successful, and both children show a significant reduction in incidents of challenging behaviour.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

There have been no occasions of children going missing from the home or incidents of the staff needing to call the police to the home since the last inspection.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The manager uses a monthly meeting with the organisation’s clinical team to review children’s progress. This identifies areas for further work and ensures that staff have clear guidance about how best to support children’s emotional needs.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff complete risk assessments for all children. However, staff do not ensure that these are regularly updated to reflect new and emerging risks. As a result, staff are not sure that the information they have about how to keep children safe is always accurate.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff make sure that children live in a safe and homely environment. This includes carrying out all routine health and safety checks.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The manager oversees the recruitment checks for new staff. Her attention to detail ensures that only people who are safe to work with children are employed at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is an experienced practitioner. She knows the children very well and is focused on supporting them to achieve their full potential.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has needed to temporarily increase staffing at the home since the last inspection. This has involved the use of staff who work for the organisation on a casual basis. This situation has been well managed to ensure that children’s care is not disrupted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff told the inspector that they feel well supported. Improvements to the supervision arrangements since the last inspection mean that all staff receive regular supervision and an annual review of their performance. However, the manager does not always ensure that the records of these meetings reflect when issues of poor performance have been identified. As a result, it is not always clear what action has been taken to support staff to address any shortfalls.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive a good range of training that reflects the complex needs of the children who live in the home. However, the manager does not consistently retain oversight of the training that staff have been offered. In addition, she delayed implementing an action plan until after one member of staff exceeded the timescale for achieving their level 3 diploma in residential childcare. Inspection report children’s home: SC419217 6 The manager is a strong advocate for the children in her care. She is confident to challenge other professionals when she feels that their responses to children’s needs are too slow.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children’s home: SC419217 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care and Management Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Park Business Centre, Hastingwood Industrial Park, Wood Lane, Birmingham B24 9QR

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Inspector

Tracey Coglan Greig, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC419217 8 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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